Killiecrankie – Doughty Matron of the Tourism Economy

Killiecrankie is one of the oldest buildings in Metis and one of its earliest inns. Built in the 1840s, the building is a wonderfully eccentric jumble of additions joined over time, giving the long structure an appearance that is both charming and shambolic. At its centre is a structure that was used as the original Presbyterian Church. The music room and porch were added for the comfort of later patrons.

The hotel register includes artists, scientists and visitors from all corners of the continent. The inn operated as Leggatt’s Point House until 1950. It was then baptised “Killiecrankie” by owner Leslie McIntosh to commemorate a rare victory of the Scots in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1689.

Killiecrankie was put on the market in 1970. In the real estate blurb, it was described as having 22 rooms, 15 acres and 450 feet of beach, “ideal as a country house, rooming house, tourism hostel or an investment”. Montreal resident Cliff Powell paid less than the asking price of $17,500. His family turned Killiecrankie into a boarding house to offer holidays to those without the means to pay for their own. In recent decades the venerable inn has accommodated musicians, circus performers, artists’ workshops, several generations of the Powell clan and a few families of raccoons. Killiecrankie remains a living connection to a glorious past.